2009 climbing season-Paul Lester

After a brief early taste of winter in November 2008 and with the Christmas and new year festivities done and dusted the season started for real on 3rd January in North Wales with a solo round of the usual suspects, idwal stream, cwm idwal and sergeants gully, cwm glas and a run up towers slabs and nameless face in the nameless cwm.

With my appetite whetted there started a 5 weekend rampage of the lake district and cairngorms.

From red tarn, hellvelyn, to coire an t~sneachda.from scrubby crag to great end. All producing some of the best winter conditions I have seen in a long time.

With a sudden change of temperatures and constant bad conditions came the decision to knock the winter scene for the year on the head.

Instead inspired by Phil Baileys/Nigels classic rock challenge I decided to resume my already ongoing collection starting with needle ridge in the lakes and topsail in the peak.

With Easter upon us Ange and I headed up to Yorkshire to climb red pencil direct on pen y gent and the even better gladiator (VS) next to it.

Which follows the line of red pencil for 2/3 and then breaks left following the horizontal crack in the roof. It was then off to the lakes for a sunny ascent of Gillicombe buttress, Borrowdale.

After a couple of weeks sport climbing at trow gill, Yorkshire and intake quarry, peak district, where I managed to lead my first two 6c routes. It soon came round to whitsun bank holiday where David Bennett, Ange and I headed down to landsend to complete the classic rock down that neck of the woods.

With fantastic weather the four routes were knocked off in quick succession even after a fight with polish, off width cracks, nesting seagulls and wet rock.

As the year progressed so did the number of routes and crags visited.

Llanymynech quarry, shorn cliff, robin proctors scar and a club meet down in Portland.

Whilst on holiday in Australia the plan was to climb Ayres Rock (Ulluru) but due to political disagreement, I.e Australian government say YES to climbing, the landowners say no and the park authorities say we’d rather you didn’t I had to make do with bouldering at the Devils Marbles.
With the year coming to a close and weather changing for the worst the chance came my way to practise the dark art of aiding. A skill which feels completely alien but has been quite fun and has seen me scrabbling bat like along the roofs of the Dove Holes, Dove Dale.

All to soon we found ourselves coming complete circle, the end of the 2009 season and the start of 2010.

If its as half as good as the last year it should be a good one.